Pieces of the past

Volunteer Waldo Rowell and Park Ranger Alicia Addeo want more information of the fort's WWII history.

By TRAN N. HA

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 9, 2000

Head to Fort De Soto Park on a Saturday morning and you might find Waldo Rowell leading a tour along the park's historical trail.

There may be two people in his group. There may be 30. Many times, the group will grow as people join the tour along the way.

Many people are surprised to learn that the Mullet Key area has such a rich history, says Rowell, who has been volunteering at the park since 1994. He and Fort De Soto Park Ranger Alicia Addeo are working to change that.

Over the years, Rowell, 76, and Addeo, who also serves as the park's historian, have uncovered many artifacts and pieced together much of the area's history. Rowell even dug up the original foundations of some of the old buildings. Come November, these artifacts, along with other bits of Fort De Soto's history will be showcased in a newly reconstructed quartermaster storehouse, one of the original buildings that stood on the fort grounds.

"Before it was all recreation and now we are trying to get into the history of the park," says Rowell, a World War II veteran. "There's a lot of history here. Even some of the local people don't know about it."

Although a lot of progress has been made since Addeo began her research on the area, she says there is much more information out there to be found, particularly about the World War II era.

"I'm sure there are World War II veterans out there who have stories to tell us," she says. "I'm just not sure why some of this information can't be found."

Because Fort De Soto is a county park, Addeo says, it doesn't get as much recognition. Addeo says she relies on word of mouth most of the time to get people out to the park and on Rowell's free tour. She is hoping the reconstructed quartermaster storehouse and its historical exhibit will attract more people to Fort De Soto to learn about its history.

Right now, in addition to Rowell's 10 a.m. tours on Saturdays, the park also offers scheduled tours for schools, retirement homes and special groups. All tours are free. The park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset seven days a week.

"Education is very important," Addeo says. "If you don't educate the youth, they won't respect the history that is here. We have to get them while they're young."

The quartermaster storehouse exhibit, which opens Nov. 11, will trace Mullet Key's history beginning from the early Spanish explorers in the early 1700s through World War II, when the area served as a bombing range for MacDill Field, later to be known as MacDill Air Force Base.

The exhibit is meant to focus on daily life at the fort during these different times, says Lisa Kirksey, 39, a St. Petersburg exhibit specialist who serves as exhibit facilitator to the quartermaster storehouse exhibit since May.

"We want to show who these people were, what they did, and what it was like to be there," Kirksey said.

Articles on exhibit will include artifacts such as dishes and bullet shells found in and around the area, military uniforms, and a mannequin to show what a quartermaster looked like.

Kirksey says there are future plans to reconstruct other parts of the fort and have more exhibits.

"With Fort De Soto, the entire site serves as a museum, whereas other museums consist of just the buildings," she says. "It's a unique experience. People can look at historical artifacts and experience the nature and natural beauty of the area."

Addeo says she has exhausted almost all avenues of research when it comes to uncovering information on Mullet Key during World War II.

"I've written letters, I've searched national archives, I mention it on our Web site and during our tours, I'm in touch with the other forts," she says. "People must have this information somewhere."

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